March Meeting Notes

Meeting Date: March 4, 2025 @ 7:45 am
Attendees:  Hien Larson, Laurie Kuntz, Kate Lord, Jill Cox, Hilda Vazquez, Kate Parkhill, Kim Heseltine, Sarah Maile, Brandy Christensen.
Welcome & Intro: Hien Larson motioned to approve the minutes from February 2025. Kate Parkhill seconded. The motion passed without dissent.  
Treasurer’s Report & Budget Review: No big changes this month. 
Principal’s Update: We had a fun February dance. Thank you to our chaperones. The first Work Habits celebration was a big success. Thank you to PTO for supplying the coffee and breakfast treats. We need to get a date on the calendar for the next 8th 8th-grade promotion meeting. Hien is working with Kristin Baird and Kate Parkhill on this. There have been four snow days so far, so the last day of school is currently scheduled for Friday, June 13. The district usually announces the final day sometime at the end of March.
New Volunteer System: There is a new system for volunteering at the school.  PTO members provided feedback that the new system is a bit cumbersome.
8th-grade Promotion Discussions: Kate Parkhill says they are working towards getting a meeting together shortly.
STUCO (Student Council and Leadership): They have $1,000.00 to spend.  PTO voted to give them this $1,000, and how they spend the money is up to them and their advisor.  They do not need to come back to PTO for approval.
Sixth-Grade Outreach: Nicole and Megan finalized the text and layout with input from Brandy. Brandy will organize getting the flyer translated and the Spanish text flowed into the layout.
Open House/Silent Auction/Kermes Dinner:  We moved the auction forward a week and will run it Friday, April 25 to Friday, May 2nd. The target in this year’s budget is $5,000; we did $9,400 last year on 87 items. Laurie updated the letter and has been asking for parent help in Cougar News with very little response so far. Will keep pushing. This year’s donation list is on our Google Drive. We’re off to a good start. Laurie has contacted most of last year’s donors. Sarah Maile and Kim Heseltine will be in charge of building the Bidding Owl site. Hilda will keep us posted on how we can help with the ELAC Kermes, and someone from PTO will attend that April meeting.
Staff Appreciation: First week of May; Kirstin Cooksey is in charge.  We will discuss more in April.